Consumer perception and attitudes towards sugar reduced beverages according to the food-related lifestyle: Focusing on the physical and environmental factors of sugar reduced beverage

Abstract

The aim of this study was to classify Korean consumers based on their food-related lifestyle type, and investigate the consumer’s perceptions and attitudes towards sugar reduced beverages (SRB) to suggest guidelines for developing SRB products and SRB policy. An online survey was conducted on 800 Korean consumers, ranging from 20 to 50 years of age. Four factors relating to dietary lifestyle were identified: Gourmet factor, Healthy factor, Economic factor, and Safety factor. These were grouped into four clusters according to their dietary lifestyle factor scores, such as Gourmet economic group, Dietary high-related group, Dietary low-related group, and Economic safety group. The results show that the Dietary high-related group was well aware of the sugar content and sugar reduction label (SRL) in beverages, whereas the Dietary low-related group had the lowest awareness. On the other hand, despite the high awareness of the sugar content on the beverage, the effects on actual purchases appear to be low. The most frequent reason for not purchasing SRL beverages was ‘no interest’ except for the Dietary high-related group. A significant difference was observed between clusters depending on the type of beverage in the capacity reduction for reducing sugar intake. © 2019 Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition. All rights reserved.